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Queer Eye for the Green Knight
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When a reader hears “Camelot,” “King Arthur,” or “the Round Table,” the first word that springs to mind is usually “chivalry.” Chivalry is the cornerstone of the Arthurian mythos, and it was the decline of chivalry that brought about the fall of Camelot. Chivalry and its decline in these tales were not just meant to entertain the readers of the day. They were also meant to instruct people in the ways of chivalry, and present the problems that could result from discarding the ideals it represents. David L. Boyd in his paper claims: By the late fourteenth century, the institution of chivalry had already lost much of its social value. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight attempts to defend chivalric ideals by blaming their decline on external forces: queer male behavior and desire that derives from the deceit and wiles of women. (Boyd, 77) While I do not contest the decline of chivalry, I do not believe that the Gawain-poet is attempting to blame it on queerness or desire. I will attempt to show that the Gawain-poet intended to show within Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the folly of pride as the cause of the decline of chivalry. The queerness and desire were simply used to shock the reader and give the message more of an impact. Before progressing further, it is important to make clear the meaning and intent of the word “queer.” The term has become so common in popular culture as well as the academic world that it is very possible to have its meaning improperly understood. “Queer” is all too often taken to simply mean “gay.” While it manifests this way in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that is not the true meaning. Richard E. Zeikowitz says of the term, “[it] can thus signify any nonnormative behavior, relationship, or identity occurring at a specific moment. It may also describe an alternative desire that threatens the stability of the dominant norm.” (Zeikowitz, 67) The Gawain-poet skewed the image of what was normal to emphasize the role of pride in the perverting of chivalry. He did not mean to show the abnormal itself as the source of the perversion. To show that the “queer” is not responsible for the failing of chivalry, it is important to first examine the places where the poem does deviate from the norm. The first sign of the queer comes with the arrival of the Green Knight to Arthur’s court. In a “guise all of green” (151), a horse of matching hue (175), and being “half a giant” (140), the Green Knight is a picture of the nonnormative.
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